Lewis Hamilton gave a long and heartfelt tribute when Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from F1, earlier this year. Vettel has been a fan of his British rival too and the two have always had a friendly relationship in the recent past. But we shouldn’t forget what happened in Baku once, because that was a watershed moment in the rivalry as well as the friendship of the two legendary drivers.

As news media and social media continue to circle around the comments Fernando Alonso recently made about Lewis Hamilton’s championship wins, and Lewis’ short but very effective reply – we dial back to the time when Hamilton and Vettel did much more.

In Baku in 2017, Hamilton exited a corner, accelerated, and then suddenly braked. Since the race was under the yellow flag, Vettel was right behind him and couldn’t react quickly enough, and ended up bumping his Ferrari into the Mercedes. Vettel saw this as a brake check and, in a supremely rare fit of anger, came alongside the Brit and rammed into him.

The matter surely didn’t end there. After the race, it was reported that Vettel said “It was a point to prove about being men. He felt like you brake checked him and it was his revenge.”

Hamilton further stoked the fire and said, “I mean if he wants to prove that he’s a man, I think we should do it out of the car, face to face.”

Things stayed heated for a while before calmer heads prevailed – both drivers seemed to recognize the right way ahead and apologized. 

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The incident in Baku is the one and only blot on what otherwise was one of the most competitive rivalries of F1, while at the same time, one of the friendliest too. Vettel and Hamilton are brilliant drivers and both respect each other for it.

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Lewis and Sebastian’s Baku incident comes to mind as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are at loggerheads – although in a much more subtle and indirect way in comparison to Baku.

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The Spaniard, who partnered with Lewis in the 2007 season, had his own share of controversies apart from their fractured relationship. Both drivers were vocal about their dislike for each other and ended up fighting each other most of the season, despite being on the same team.

Their soured relations came up again recently as Alonso opined, “Max’s titles are worth more than Hamilton’s. I have a lot of respect for Lewis but it’s different when you win seven world championships having only had to fight against your team-mate…”

Hamilton has since given a cryptic response to the statement with a tweet of a thumbs-up emoji and a picture of the 2007 United States Grand Prix where Hamilton is on the top of the podium, next to Alonso, who was P2.

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Hamilton and Vettel made up after their 2017 incident and since have become great friends. Alonso and Hamilton’s season together was a full 10 years before that – but it seems they still haven’t been able to repair relations, and highly unlikely they will do it now.